Anon Gym Switch Etiquette...

[Anonymous (c521)]

We are planning on switching gyms after this season. The gym we intend to trial at is rather impacted currently with lots of 9s and 10s. We know a few gymnasts who were asked to email routines over in order to get a trial and never heard back. Is just showing up at the gym with our daughter in tow and politely asking about a trial bad etiquette?

Email/phone call would be more discreet, because the gym community is very small and it would get back to our gym instantly if we showed up for a trial. But we also don't want to be in a "lost in the mix" situation and want to give our daughter the best chance to be fairly assessed. Also timing wise we'd like to avoid the rush post season to switch gyms. This gym is looking the most capable in our area of getting girls to level 10.

 

[Anonymous (0298)]

I know at our gym, we would get way more requests than we could handle, sometimes a dozen or more when we had maybe a couple spots open in each level. We would make a list and wait until we knew exactly what our returning numbers were - commitments were generally due mid May. Then we would start offering trials as we had space.

Most gyms aren't thinking about next season right now and are going to tell you to wait until the current season is over. I don't think it would hurt to make an initial contact via email or phone to let them know you're interested but I wouldn't just show up. It would give you an opportunity to ask about what the process is on their end and the best timing. I would aim for a phone call if you can.

 

[Anonymous (4ada)]

If someone just showed up at our gym without advance notice and approval, even for a preschool rec trial, they would be politely asked to leave and be branded as crazy and aggressive. I can’t imagine trying that for compulsory team, let alone optionals, but maybe our gym is different.

You’re going to have to call the front desk and ask how they prefer for you to communicate- some will give you coach contact info, some will ask for an email so they can look up scores and stuff before deciding to invite you in. Our gym will have girls do a week’s trial after states or nationals depending on their level.

Unless you live in a huge area with tons of gyms, the gym will know who your kid is right away and will either be excited about her and make arrangements asap or will politely put you off. Our gym will ignore anyone at the optionals level who isn’t better than the athletes they already have, unless it’s a level that’s had a lot of skips and needs more girls to make a workout group functional.